Best Team Ever (We're Going to Win)
by TheLateNightStoryteller
Summary: During their last year in the Academy Fitz and Simmons participate in 'friendly' competition between the Science and Technology and Operations schools. They believe they are sure to win (best team ever) but they may have met their match in an unlikely duo. Rated T for use of a swear word (I think it's a swear word)
1. FitzSimmons Rules!

This story takes place during Fitz and Simmons' last year at the Academy. Agents of Shield belongs to its best team ever of creators and ABC and Marvel.

* * *

"We're going to kick their butts," Fitz said smugly as he wrote his name next to Simmons' on the list of contestants, just beneath Timothy Ober and Miranda Green.

"Fitz it's not about winning, it's about promoting friendship between the schools." Simmons scolded halfheartedly.

He raised his eyebrows at her. She wanted to win didn't she? What was all this nonsense about friendship?

"After kicking their butts of course," she continued and he grinned at her. Much better, that was the Simmons he knew.

Their school was having what was meant to be a friendly competition with Operations, however just about everyone in both schools was more set on crushing the other school's students than getting to know them. Each Science and Technology team was put up against a team from Operations. Whoever won got a point for their school. The school with the most points at the end was the winner. Last year it had been operations by two points.

It was their last semester before graduation and the pair was dead set on winning this time.

"This year I'm running the maze," Simmons decided as they walked together to class across the green-space.

"When did we agree on that?" Fitz demanded, offended. He'd done alright last year. It wasn't his fault the other team cheated and set an illegal trap which left him hanging upside down by his ankles.

She let out a breath and cast him a patronizing look. "Because I'm not going to think of my stomach before I think of reaching the finish line." she informed him.

"Well... that's just not... I didn't..." but he knew she was right. He'd gone for a bag of twizzlers and been caught in a snare. It was stupid of him; it had obviously been a trap but there was no lunch break in the competition and he'd been so hungry.

He stewed silently for a moment, trying to think of a comeback that wouldn't embarrass him further.

Simmons seemed to sense his discomfort. She patted his shoulder consolingly and said, "You're the better spotter anyway," she smiled encouragingly, "with you spotting and me running the maze we'll win for sure."

"Operations won't stand a chance," he agreed. He didn't mind being the spotter, that was where all the strategy was anyway. Besides Simmons deserved a turn being the runner. He could do it of course, but it was only fair to let her have a try.

"We'll be the best team ever." she cheered and they high fived.

Simmons tried hard to pay attention to the lecture but it was difficult because Fitz kept passing notes to her with plans on how they were going to optimize their performance in the maze.

'Pay attention,' she wrote quickly before passing the paper back to him and refocusing her attention on the slides.

He scribbled something hurriedly, it sounded like he was pressing down too hard on the paper and she was unsurprised when it returned to her with a large hole in it.

'Do you think those meatheads in Operations are paying attention to slides or planning another way to cheat?' it read. The word cheat was underlined about five times and a long tear stretched across the bottom line.

She heard him tear another page from his notebook and sighed. He scratched something across the new paper and shoved it towards her.

'What happened to best team ever?' he demanded, 'What happened to kicking their butts?'

She wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh or to kick him under the desk.

'What happened to learning Advanced Applications of Thermodynamics?' she inquired before sliding the paper back to him.

He read the note hastily before shooting her a look that said, 'C'mon Simmons, this is serious.' and she chuckled quietly at him.

He rolled his eyes but he was smiling as his pen moved across the paper.

'Fine,' she read, 'but there will be a strategy meeting right after class. My place. No excuses for absence will be accepted. There will definetely be snacks. FitzSimmons rules!'

She laughed out loud before clapping her hand over her mouth and looking wide eyed at the professor who narrowed his eyes at her and held a finger to his lips.

Fitz was laughing silently at her.

"Shush," she giggled, kicking him lightly under the desk.

* * *

**Fun Background**

Thank you to everyone who read, liked or reviewed my other stories. Collectively we make the best fanfiction team ever ;)

The Fringe reference in this story is Timothy Ober and Miranda Green. These two are among the children which cortexiphan (a drug that gives you superpowers) is tested on (along with my favourite superhero Olivia Dunham of course).

I was inspired to write Fitz and Simmons in class by reading notapepper's story of how they met.

The term runner is taken from the title of the novel the Maze Runner which belongs to it's author James Dashner. (I haven't actually read the book, I just see the title everywhere).

Next chapter should be up soon. Get ready to meet the enemy, Sam and Jack :).


	2. Jack and Sam

The morning of the competitions was sunny but cool and both Fitz and Simmons shivered slightly under their sweaters. Their competitors stood across the field, chatting away and grinning.

'They think they've won,' Fitz thought hotly, 'We'll see though.'

They didn't look like Operations. The smaller one wore a black hoodie with a large blue handprint on the front (Fitz noticed it had six fingers) and wasn't much bigger than he was. He wasn't even muscly as far as he could tell but he was a bit chubby. The other one wore a plain black t-shirt and was closer to what Fitz pictured an Operations student to look like with muscled arms and legs. However his muscles were barely defined and he was only a couple inches taller than his partner.

"Hi, I'm Jack." The one in the hoodie introduced cheerfully, "Engineering."

Fitz and Simmons exchanged a bewildered glance.

"So you're from Science and Technology?" Simmons asked

"Then why are we competing with you?" Fitz wondered.

"That'd be because of me," the one in the t-shirt answered, holding out his hand. "Sam, Operations. It's half a point for each school if we win, in case you were wondering." he winked.

"What," "The hell?" they exclaimed, neither taking his hand.

Sam and Jack laughed while Sam withdrew his hand.

"Everyone's a critic," Jack chuckled gazing at his partner.

"Ours is a forbidden love," Sam joked staring back.

"Oh," Simmons said, surpised, "are you two-"

"Best friends," they said together, grinning mischevously. "Jack isn't really my type," Sam shrugged and nudged his friend good naturedly.

Jack stuck his tongue out at him playfully.

"What the hell," Fitz repeated, not quite able to wrap his head around what he was hearing. "You can't be friends!" he exclaimed, throwing his arm in the air. He glared at Jack and jabbed a finger at Sam. "He's the enemy you traitor!"

The two of them crossed their arms and raised their eyebrows challengingly.

"Fitz can I have a word with you," Simmons hissed, tugging his sleeve.

Why was she looking at him like he was a misbehaving child?

"What?" he demanded after letting her pull him aside.

"You're embarrassing me," she scolded staring sternly at him.

"I'm embarrassing?!" he shot back, incredulous. "Simmons that guy over there is betraying our school."

"I think it's sweet," she asserted.

"Sweet," he scoffed.

"The aren't so different from you and me," she insisted, tilting her head disapprovingly.

He frowned at her. They were a million times different from him and Simmons.

"Fitz look at them," she instructed, pointing to the pair who had once again began chatting and laughing together, "they're happy. How would you feel if people didn't want you to be friends with me? What if they said boys and girls can't be best friends, that's ridiculous."

"Where are we primary school?" Fitz muttered but he felt himself starting to come around. He couldn't imagine what it would be like not having Simmons and he'd never let anyone tell him they couldn't be friends.

"One of us is," she sighed and he blushed.

"Fine," he agreed grumpily and she smiled approvingly at him. "But we're still going to crush them," he added, beaming back.

"Obviously," she concurred confidently.

Twenty or so minutes later, Simmons and Sam were preparing their gear for the maze.

"Stop crunching so loud," "Jack enough with the pretzels," they scolded their friends over their coms, turning them off for the moment.

Sam met her eyes and they giggled. She liked Sam, he was kind and jolly and much smarter than she expected from someone from Operations. He knew the gear inside out, she suspected because of his friendship with Jack, and could hold a conversation as well as anyone at Science and Technology. They had a lot in common too. They both liked dogs more than cats and their best friends more than almost everyone (except their immediate family, though Sam said he liked Jack just a bit more than his older sister). Sam was even a fan of Doctor Who.

"Hey look at these," Sam exclaimed, placing a pair of night vision goggles over his eyes and making a face that reminded Simmons irresistibly of Fitz. "Carter," he said in a James Bond voice, "Sam Carter."

"Jemma Simmons," she replied, shaking his hand."And my partner crunching the pretzels is Leo Fitz."

"Mine's Jack Russell," he told her.

She raised her eyebrows. "Like the terrier?"

"He's exactly like the terrier," Jack told her, the affection clear in his voice."He is such a clown."

"So is Fitz," Simmons informed him warmly, "but he's my clown."

They smiled at each other again in mutual understanding. She liked Sam, she liked him a lot. But that didn't mean she was going to go easy on him.

Fitz stood in the look out tower over the maze beside Jack. They had separate rooms for the competition but the common room had pretzels and soda pop which they were both enjoying at he moment.

"Stop crunching so loud," Simmons scolded over the coms.

"Sorry," he and Jack apologized simultaneously.

"I crunch too much," Jack whispered.

"Me too," Fitz smiled.

He heard Simmons turn off her com and clicked his shut for the time being.

He was beginning to like Jack. He'd taken Simmons' advice to be friendly and had discovered that he and the other engineer actually had a lot in common. They'd agreed to swap some tips after the competition was over and Jack was the first other person Fitz had met who ate pretzels in one bite instead of two. They both preferred cats over dogs and their best friend over just about anyone (except their mums) and both of them agreed that the film Aliens, though more action packed than Alien, was not as scary.

The biggest difference between them was Jack's constant cheerfulness. His face had a permanent, bubbly smile plastered on it that made Fitz think of Simmons which in turn made him like Jack even more.

"Too bad we didn't have longer to prepare this year," Jack was saying as he popped another whole pretzel into his mouth. "Last year me and Sam set traps in all the mazes," he chuckled, "it was hilarious! I heard someone from Science and Technology ended up hanging by his ankles. Did you hear about that?"

Fitz froze mid-chew.

"You did what?" he asked monotonely.

* * *

**Fun Background**

Thank you to everyone who read, reviewed or liked my other stories. You guys are awesome Jack Russell terriers of fanfiction.

The Fringe reference in this story is Jack's hoodie. The six fingered hand is one of the glyphs that appears before a commercial break on Fringe. Each glyph represents a letter and they spell out a word each episode (Fringe is awesome).

Sam and Jack are actually from another story I was writing called The Flower Man which is about something that happens at the Hub when Hydra rises. It is a spinoff of another story I wrote called living things. It does not end well for them though and I am not sure I will finish it. I can't write sad stuff haha.

Sam Carter is named after Samantha Carter of Stargate. Jack is named after the super hyper dog, the Jack Russell terrier.


	3. Into the Maze

"I'm telling you Simmons, they're no good," Fitz was insisting over the coms device.

She groaned and rubbed the sides of her neck irritably. Did they need to talk about Jack and Sam right at this moment? The competition was suppose to begin in five minutes and she needed him to run through the layout of the maze with her.

"Fitz can we just concentrate on the maze for now?" she begged, glad Sam was starting at another point, and was unable to hear their conversation.

"You need to take the first door on your left," he instructed hastily, "then there is going to be a pit but I think there is enough room on the edges for you to go around. Anyway, as I was saying, you need to stay clear of that Sam fellow, he's bound to cheat."

That was his advice? Try not to fall into the pit? There might be enough room Simmons, you probably won't break your arm. She should have been the spotter, she was evidently the superior strategist.

He was droning on about that stupid trap again.

"Who cares who set it?" she demanded, "We weren't even competing against them and they obviously don't care which school wins. And Sam is not a no good, cowardly cheating dung face Fitz," she added firmly, "He's a very nice man, he actually sort of-"

"So that's what this is about!" Fitz exclaimed, like he'd just solved a tricky puzzle, "You like him don't you? We're going to lose because you can't keep your feminine urges in check."

She'd been about to say 'he actually sort of reminds me of you,' but the words died in her mouth and she felt herself grow hot with anger.

"We're going to lose because you're being a complete idiot and you're wasting our time with this nonsense," she shouted back, looking at her watch. Two minutes to go. "We need a plan." she hissed, "A real plan not that damn piece of rubbish you've come up with. I can do the maze on my own if that's the only advice you can manage to muster up. Maybe I should just throw the com away because you are absolutely no use to me at all."

There was silence on his end for the remainder of the two minutes. He didn't say anything, even after the buzzer went off and she took the door on the left which led her to the pit.

She felt a bit bad about blowing up on him like that, but he had been completely out of line with his comment about Sam.

Simmons looked down into the deep hole that stretched between herself and the next door. It was a good nine feet to the bottom and she actually probably would break something if she fell into it, however she wasn't about to lose because she was frightened. She searched around for another way across but the ledge seemed like the only option. Angry as she was with her friend, she still trusted his judgment. If he thought it was safe it probably was. Taking a deep breath, she placed one foot carefully onto it.

"Jemma wait," Fitz's voice crackled quietly across the coms. He sounded a bit rattled.

Good.

"Decided to talk to me again?" she demanded, still cross with him as she drew her foot back to solid ground.

"I shouldn't have said those things, I didn't mean them." he apologized and she could tell he was being sincere, "You're right, I'm an idiot."

"You aren't though," she disagreed kindly, forgiving him but wondering why he had admitted so easily that he was wrong. She hadn't really meant everything she'd said either. "You're my genius partner and I need your help."

"That ledge isn't safe," he told her guiltily, "I've been looking at the building material, doing the math, and there's a good chance it won't hold you long enough to get to the other side."

She gulped, thinking how close she'd been to trying to cross on it. "So what do I do?" she inquired, "Do I go back and take the other door?"

"The other door is a dead end," Fitz grumbled. "What do you have in your bag?"

"I have night vision goggles, a bottle of water, some medicine called cortexiphan, a knife, some rope,-" she listed.

"Why do you have a knife?" he interrupted, clearly alarmed. "What is this the bloody Hunger Games? Does Sam have knife? Simmons you need to be careful-"

"Fitz," she warned.

"Sorry," he muttered.

"I could just go through the pit," she suggested, thinking of the rope. She'd need something to tie it to. The knife might work if the ground was solid enough. "Is there anything down there?"

She heard him tapping a screen, "Only dirt and bugs," he replied. "Excellent plan my genius partner," he cheered and she heard the smile in his voice.

Grinning, she looked around for a place to stick the knife.

"Is the knife going to hold my weight if I stick it into the ground?" she asked but he was already tapping away at his screen and she knew she hadn't needed to ask; Fitz had already guessed her plan.

"It definitely will," he said triumphantly and she wished she could give him a high five.

Fitz watched from the tower as Simmons disappeared into the pit. The red dot from the tracker around her wrist still blinked on the screen of his tablet however, he was grateful for the sound of her breathing over the coms.

He was still shaken up by the fact that he'd almost made her attempt to cross it using that awful ledge. A fall like that could have really hurt her and it would have been entirely his fault for being too caught up in his own embarrassment to think things through properly. Had the maze always been so dangerous? Or did it just seem that way because Simmons was in there?

"Ooohh look at that gorgeous spider," her voice cooed into his ear. "What a wonderful web she's made herself!"

"Simmons, we don't have time for bugs," he reminded her, trying to keep the amusement out of his voice. He could clearly picture her poking her nose inches away from the spider, which was probably almost as big as her face. But he wanted to keep her mind on getting through the pit. They'd lost enough time arguing and they needed to put all their energy into getting across the finish line if they wanted to win, which they most definitely did.

"I know, I know," she answered impatiently and mumbled something about it being an arachnid. Sounding much more focused she added, "What's next?" and he saw the knife fly out of the pit and dig into the ground at the top, the rope dangling from the handle.

"It looks like some kind of pool," he said, squinting at it from the top of the tower and looking over his map.

Her head poked out of the edge of the pit and he felt a rush of relief as he saw her pull herself out.

'Stop worrying about her,' he chastised himself, wondering why he was being such a mother hen, 'she's smart and resourceful and perfectly capable of taking care of herself. Besides she won't thank you if you're too distracted to strategize.'

The knot in his stomach remained, however he managed to stop himself from picturing her falling into that deep dark hole.

"Is it water?" she asked, after she'd gone through the second door and he made out her tiny form poking the liquid with the blade of her knife.

"That's what it says," he replied. "It doesn't look like there's anything in it." He almost added, 'It should be safe to cross,' but he hesitated, wanting to be positive this time that it was.

She waited patiently on the other end while he went through the file that had been provided on the pool. There was something metal at the bottom but it was small and seemed inert.

"It's just water," he said finally.

"Then all I need to do is swim across?" she wondered and he hesitated again.

'Stop it,' he warned himself, 'You're being ridiculous.'

"Yes." told her confidently.

"Here we go then," she chirped, splashing as she hopped into the pool. "It's a good thing I know how to swim," she exclaimed over the her paddling.

"Maybe Sam doesn't," Fitz suggested hopefully, "And he'll be stuck when he gets to his pool."

"He probably does though, being in Operations and all," Simmons pointed out fairly. She sounded a bit out of breath and he wondered if her backpack was dragging her down."Besides I don't want to win that way."

"Yeah, you're right," he agreed reluctantly.

"What is that metal thing?" she asked suddenly, stopping in the center of the pool.

"Never mind that," he dismissed, waving his hand even though she couldn't see him.

"But-" she began before he saw her disappear beneath the water and the com went dead, buzzing static into his ear.

"Simmons?" he shouted, "Simmons what happened?" his heartbeat quickened as he began to panic. "Jemma answer me!"

He hadn't seen her come up yet. How long had she been under? It could have been a few seconds or a few minutes; he couldn't tell.

Truly freaking out now, he shoved the tablet into his bag and slammed out the door. He tore down the stairs four at a time, almost falling down them on the second leap. His legs were moving faster than he could ever remember them doing but it still felt too slow.

'lt's too far," he despaired, 'I can't get there on time.'

But he had to do something.

After he crashed through the first door on the left, he came to an abrupt halt in front of the pit. He paused for only a second before leaping off into the nine foot drop.

"Fitz," Simmons called across the coms, receiving only static from the other end. The water must have broken the device. What sort of stupid design was that? How was she suppose to communicate with him now?

She let out an uhhg of frustration and smacked the water angrily.

'Don't loose your head,' she told herself, taking a calming breath, 'Fitz will figure something out, you just need to keep going until he finds a way to communicate.'

It wasn't all bad anyway; the metal thing at the bottom of the pool was a key. She could see it from where she tread water and she guessed it was needed to open the doors on the other side. Curiosity had paid off this time, sort of.

However it had been foolish to try to dive down with all her gear and the coms device on. Quick as she could, she swam to the opposite shore and placed her bag on the sandy ground, laying the device next to it then swimming back to the center of the pool.

She then took in a big gulp of air before diving down again to retrieve the key. The pool was much deeper than it appeared to be from the surface, maybe even deeper than the pit though, thankfully, it was filled with water she could swim through instead of climbing up and down the walls.

She was halfway to the key when she felt someone grab her around her waist. Alarmed she twisted and squirmed away and managed to elbow them in the stomach. Kicking off quickly she sped away from them to the surface. To her great surprise, Fitz popped out next to her a second later, coughing and spluttering.

"What the hell Simmons?!" he wheezed after spitting out a mouthful of water, "that really hurt."

"I'm so sorry!" she gasped, feeling horrible, "I didn't know it was you! I thought someone was attacking me!"

He coughed again and she swam close beside him while he paddled to the shore.

"What are you doing here?" she asked when he was safely sitting on the ground.

"Not saving you from drowning I guess," he muttered. "Why weren't you answering me?" he demanded.

"The water broke the coms device," she explained, just now realizing what that must have looked like to him.

"What kind of stupid design is that?" he growled, shaking the water from his ears.

"It's not one of ours, that's for sure," she grumbled and he smiled at her.

"I'm sorry if I scared you," he said.

"I'm sorry I hit you in the stomach," she replied. "At least you're here now." she added brightly, "I really didn't want to do this on my own. We always do better together."

He chuckled, "Best team ever."

* * *

Fun Background

Thank you to everyone who read, liked or reviewed my other stories. You guys are geniuses.

Disclaimer: The knife thing is not a real thing. DO NOT TRY IT. I just used it for the purposes of the story and it probably does not work. Be safe and don't climb down into pits with makeshift grappling hooks. ;)

So FitzSimmons weren't exactly the best team ever (or the most co-ordinated) in this chapter but they did have their moments right? And they will do better next chapter I promise. haha. Also they are kinda younger FitzSimmons still now aren't they? They may still be working out the kinks of their super team.

The Fringe reference in this story is the cortexiphan. In Fringe it was a drug Walter used on children to give them super powers (though most of them had no reason to thank him for what they actually got). In this story, however, it is just a brand of painkillers.

Also the Hunger Games is awesome (though I would never wish anyone into it) and belongs to Suzanne Collins.


	4. The Puzzle Room

Simmons made Fitz wait on the shore near the door while she went to get the key. He was still choking a bit on all the water he'd swallowed and besides, she was the stronger swimmer.

Diving down she felt her ears pop and shook her head uncomfortably. Everything was so blurry, she wished she had goggles. Lungs burning she fumbled around for the key and managed to grab it before she was forced to spring off the bottom of the pool and rush to the surface for a breath of air.

Fitz applauded when she held up the key and she swam back to him, happy he was with her. They should have tried this ages ago. As far as she remembered there was nothing in the rules against it (they would have been disqualified by now if there was) and, although the perch in the tower offered genuine advantage, it was nothing compared to what she knew they could do working together on the ground.

There were two doors at the end of the room. Fitz had gotten the tablet soaked jumping into the pool so they were traveling blind now but he swore he remembered that it was the door on the left they needed to go through and she was trusting him to be right.

"Ready to go partner?" she asked playfully as she swung her backpack back on. His lay uselessly on the ground. There was nothing in it they needed and so no point in lugging it with them.

"Ready," he smiled up at her but she saw him wince as he stood and put weight on his left foot.

"Let me take a look at that," she instructed, feeling a hard knot of dread form in her stomach. If he couldn't walk they were in trouble.

He sat back down and she examined his ankle. It was swollen and red but it didn't seem to be broken, just sprained.

"Ow, ow, ow," he complained, pulling away when she touched it.

"How did this happen?" she wondered. searching her bag for a first aid kit.

"I jumped into the pit," he mumbled, rubbing his leg above the swelling.

She froze and stared at him incredulously. "You could have broken your neck!" she exclaimed furiously, "Why in the world would you do that?"

"I thought you were drowning in case you've forgotten," he reminded her hotly.

He had a fair point there. She tried to imagine what it would be like the other way around, seeing him disappear under the water and having the coms go dead. Her anger evaporated.

"How did you get out with your ankle hurt like that?" she inquired more gently, finding the first aid kit and taking out a long piece of gauze to wrap his ankle with so it wouldn't move around too much.

He seemed baffled by her question. "I don't know," he said, staring into the distance, "It all happened very quickly but I don't really remember it hurting until just a minute ago."

That would be the adrenaline she guessed. She must have really given him a scare.

"We need to communicate better," she told him and herself.

"That'd be nice," he agreed, flinching as she wrapped his ankle in the gauze.

"Both of us," she added sternly, thinking of the ledge.

He must have been thinking of it too because his face turned suddenly serious and he nodded. "I promise," he vowed, holding out his fist.

"I promise too," she swore, placing her hand over it after she finished with his foot.

She debated giving him some of the painkillers but decided against it. It was better for it to hurt a little bit. The pain would stop him from hopping around on it and damaging it more as he probably did climbing that wall.

"Do you still want to do this?" she asked, kneeling in front of him and looking him in the eyes. "Because we can stop now-"

"No!" he interjected, the determination in his voice clear. "We're winning this year. I don't care if Jack and Sam are our friends now, we're still kicking their butts for that twizzlers trap."

Simmons felt a grin stretch across her face. That was the Fitz she knew, her tireless Jack Russell terrier. They could still win this if they worked as a team.

"FitzSimmons rules," she cheered and they punched the air together.

Fitz leaned slightly on Simmons on the way to the door and on the concrete wall as she inserted the key and unlocked it.

"What's behind door number three?" he joked.

"A bag of twizzlers probably," she teased.

"Let's hope not," he said half seriously. The last thing they needed was another damn trap. Simmons might trust Jack and Sam to play fair but he wasn't so sure. He didn't really think they were dangerous but the pair had a mischievous air about them and it wouldn't surprise him if they decided to break the rules.

The scene on the other side of the door confused them at first.

The room looked like a roofless play room with a padded green floor that had a blue strip running across the middle, crossing their path to the door. On their side there were three toys; a stuffed wolf, a stuffed sheep, a stuffed carrot and a toy boat.

"It's the river game," Simmons realized first.

Fitz felt himself relax. It was a puzzle. There was no need to for him to struggle along in this room, he simply had use his brain. The puzzle wasn't even difficult. He and Simmons had solved it plenty of times before, more difficult versions too. 'Probably meant to trip up Operations students,' he thought smugly.

"Aren't you clever," came a voice from the side of the room and they jumped but it was only the judge. "Did you think we'd just take you're word that you solved it?" she chuckled at their reaction. "You move all the plushies across to get the key from me, but there are rules. You can't-"

"Leave the wolf with the sheep or he'll eat it," Simmons began.

"Or the sheep with the carrots," Fitz finished. "Because he'll gobble them up."

"Why are there two of you?" she asked, looking slightly annoyed at their interruption.

"You're coms are defective," Fitz explained.

"You really should make them waterproof," Simmons concurred.

"I could fix them after if you want," Fitz offered good naturedly. They hadn't meant to interrupt her like that, they'd just gotten a bit excited.

"That's cute," she said but she didn't really sound like she thought they were cute, "you kids are adorable." she returned to her post mumbling something about Science and Technology gibberish and how she wished their school would teach them some respect for their superiors.

"You know we can hear you," Fitz called after her but she ignored him.

He exchanged a glance with Simmons who shook her head disapprovingly.

"Let's just solve this so we can leave," she whispered.

"Agreed," he whispered back.

They did so in the minimum number of moves possible and sauntered proudly up to the judge to receive their key.

She looked unimpressed as she handed it to them.

"A congratulations would have been nice," Simmons muttered to Fitz as they headed for the forth door and he nodded in agreement.

"Hey Simmons!" came a jolly voice from the other door.

It was Sam.

Simmons waved cheerfully at him but tugged on Fitz's sleeve and said quietly, "We'd better hurry and get ahead of him."

"It'll probably take him forever to solve the puzzle," Fitz guessed in a hushed voice.

"I wouldn't be so sure," Simmons disagreed in a whisper.

He tilted his head questioningly at her but before she could explain Sam shouted excitedly from across the room.

"Yeah Jack, it's the river game." he chirped but he wasn't talking into a coms device. He was chatting with a small, insect-like drone that buzzed around his head like a tail wagging puppy.

"What is that?" Fitz marveled taking a step forward and stumbling when pain shot up his left leg.

"Fitz we have to go," Simmons insisted, catching him and pulling him back up.

He widened his eyes pleadingly at her, letting her know that he wanted very much to go see what it was.

"After the competition," she promised and he pouted at her even though he knew she was right.

Sam must have seen him staring though because he whispered something to the drone which flew over and hovered in front of them.

"Hey Fitz," Jack's bubbly voice greeted through the bug. "Hi Simmons."

"Hello," they said waving.

"Can you see us?" Fitz asked. Where was the camera? Was it in the eyes of the bug? No that would be far too obvious. How had he gotten it to buzz around like that with those tiny wings?

"I can see you both," Jack laughed. "But you better get going before Sam solves the river game," he advised. " We've done this like a million times and this isn't even a hard version. I can show you more of Gene, that's my drone's name, later." he assured them.

He wanted to stay and ask all his questions but Simmons was pulling him away and he really did need her if he wanted to stand without hurting his foot.

There was only one door at the end of this room and she was chuckling and shaking her head at him as she inserted the key into the lock.

"Bye Jack," he called over his shoulder.

"Bye!" Jack answered before Gene zipped back to Sam.

"Sorry about that," he said to Simmons, feeling slightly embarrassed at being so easily distracted.

She beamed at him and her eyes were filled with such warmth he could feel it on his skin. "Don't be," she told him, "I'm glad you made a friend." She kissed his cheek quickly before turning the knob on the door. "C'mon, let's go win this thing."

* * *

Fun Background

Thank you to everyone who liked, read or reviewed my other stories and this one. You're all winners!

The Fringe reference in this story is that the drone's name is Gene. Gene is the name of Walter's pet cow.

The river game is actually really fun and the original is much more difficult than this. This version was simpler to explain though. haha.

The judge in the puzzle room really is a nice person, she was just in a bad mood because her boss made her volunteer for this.


	5. The Maze in the Maze

The door led to a narrow, roofless, hallway which stretched out in two directions on either side of them. The walls were grey and smooth and several meters too high to climb over.

"This is the maze in the maze," Fitz squeaked excitedly, "Simmons I remember this, we're almost to the end. There's only one other room between us and the finish!"

He bounced up and down excitedly on one leg, but she frowned. This wasn't a point in their favour; it was the reason why a spotter offered such a great advantage. And they didn't have a spotter, they didn't even have the tablet anymore. Moreover, Fitz was injured and they could only hobble along slowly.

Fitz stopped bouncing as he noticed his excitement was not being mirrored (and probably also because his leg was starting to hurt) and she saw his expression darken as he came to the same conclusion she had.

"This isn't good for us is it?" he asked and she shook her head.

He forced a smile onto his face, "We'd better get going then," he decided optimistically. "I can sort of remember the layout from when I was up in the tower. We go right from here, the left is going to lead us the wrong way."

His optimism was contagious and he had that smile that on which never failed to cheer her at least a bit.

"Right it is then," she chirped, ducking under his arm so that he was leaning on her shoulder and placing her other arm in front of his chest to steady him.

They made decent progress down the hall, all things considered. Fitz hopped along uncomplaining and she did her best to support him so he wouldn't put too much strain on his good leg. It was a bit like a three legged race except that instead of the middle leg belonging to both of them it just belonged to her.

The two of them reached another fork and she set him down carefully against a wall before sliding off her backpack. She had an idea.

"What are you doing?" he wondered curiously, clumsily sitting down and stretching his good leg out in front of him.

"I'm going to scout ahead," she informed him, searching through the bag, "I don't want to lose track of where you are though so- aha! Here it is!"

"So I'm going to hold the end of that," he continued guessing her plan when she pulled out the rope. "Is it long enough?"

"It's better than nothing," she shrugged, "if I go further than the end of the rope it'll leave me a path back to you at least. Just remember that you don't need to come running to my rescue if the rope goes slack." she teased affectionately.

His face became pink but he grinned back at her, "It isn't as if I can actually run anyhow." he kidded.

"Hopping then," she chuckled, patting his knee before placing the end of the rope in his hand. "Hold onto this," she ordered. "If I feel the rope go slack it's going to be me running to the rescue."

"It's only a maze Simmons," he protested dismissively, "what could possibly happen?"

She raised her eyebrows, "Twizzlers."

His stomach grumbled and they laughed.

Fitz waited, holding tight to his end of the rope while Simmons dashed ahead. A few minutes later he heard her pattering feet running back to him, and she reported that the path ended in a wall.

They repeated the pattern at each fork they came to, marking the wall with a scratch from the knife so they would know if they were going in circles. A few times he felt the rope go limp and watched it fall to the floor and at one point Simmons must have not realized in time she'd reached the end of it because it jerked him forward before becoming slack. A couple times at the beginning, he could remember which way to go but as they traveled further into the maze within the maze it became too confusing to keep track of. He saw Gene buzz high up over his head a couple times and, though the muscles in his good leg were aching, he forced himself to speed up.

After around thirty minutes, he convinced an out of breath Simmons to take a break from darting around everywhere and drink some of their water. The label on the bottle read ZFT and he wasn't sure what that stood for, however natural German spring water was written in italics just bellow it so he figured it was the company name.

Simmons' face was red and her sweat plastered several locks of her messy hair to her forehead. She took the time to the stuff her sweater, which had been tied hastily around her waist, into the backpack which Fitz now insisted on carrying because he was determined to help out in any way possible. Even though it wasn't really his fault, he felt guilty that she was doing most of the work. Here she was, struggling to catch her breath, and he was spending most of his time sitting down. Weren't they suppose to be a team?

"I haven't seen Gene in a while," she commented between sips.

"They've probably reached the last room already," he guessed, trying to keep the defeat out of his voice. "Maybe you should just go on ahead..."

"No," she objected firmly, "we're winning together or we're losing together."

"Don't you want to win?" he asked. Why would she be alright with losing?

She paused and stared up at the space between the walls where the sky was blue and sunny. "Yes, I do, of course I do, but I keep thinking about Jack and Sam. If they win, neither school really gets a point so why do you think they're doing this?"

"Bragging rights," Fitz suggested, shrugging, "a sense of accomplishment. Who knows what's going on in those wacky brains of theirs."

"I think they're just having fun Fitz," she informed him, leaning in a bit and smiling slightly like it was a secret. "They're having fun working together to accomplish something. It is a game after all, a real game not like the one Suzanne Collins writes about," she added, poking fun at his earlier comment regarding the Hunger Games.

He didn't quite understand what she was saying, "So?"

"So," she said, nudging him playfully and letting her grin stretch across her face, "I want to play it with you."

Fitz thought that that was probably one of the best things anyone had ever said to him and he felt an amazing surge of love for the person sitting at his side.

"It is much more fun together," he agreed warmly, "I wouldn't want to play it without you either."

"Well c'mon then," she said, eyes sparkling as she helped him to his feet. "Let's go play."

They found the door after the next split in the path and, together, they opened it and stepped into the final room.

* * *

Fun Background

Thanks to everyone who liked, read or reviewed my other stories or this one. A special thanks to notapepper for all your help and the awesome reviews.

The Fringe reference in this story is ZFT. In this story it is a company name but in Fringe it is the initials of the manifesto of a terrorist organization and stands for something in German which means destruction through the advancement of technology.

They have a really long rope haha, that is the only explanation for this chapter.

Once again, the Hunger Games is fantastic and belongs to Suzanne Collins.


	6. Lights in the Darkness

For the first time the room they entered had a roof. There were, however, no lights to substitute the sun and as the door closed behind them they were plunged into darkness.

Simmons felt Fitz cling onto her a bit more tightly. He'd never admit it, even to her, but she knew he was afraid of the dark.

She helped him into a sitting position and felt through her bag for the night vision goggles, winding her hand around the rope and the now empty water bottle.

"Here, put on the goggles," she instructed, finding his hands and placing the goggles into them.

But he pushed them back to her. "You're the one steering," he pointed out, a hint of humour in his voice, "probably better if you wear them."

"That's true," she agreed, slipping them on. She could hear the anxiousness in his voice even though he was trying to cover it with humour and was proud of his courage. If only they had another pair, she lamented, they could both be able to see. Fitz was right though, it made more sense for her to have them as she was the more mobile of the two at the moment.

"Don't go to far though OK?" He said quickly. "I don't want to be stuck fumbling around in the dark."

"Of course not," she assured him, giving his arm a squeeze.

She pressed button the side of the goggles to turn them on. For a few seconds nothing happened and she worried they had been damaged by the water. Then, to her relief, the world appeared before her in hues of green and black.

"So?" Fitz asked nervously, "What do you see?"

"Just you right now," she answered, viewing his strangely lit face through the goggles and making a note to let him try them out before they finished. Wearing them was pretty cool, it felt like being in a spy novel.

"No bugs around me?" He worried, "It smells like bugs."

"It's just musty," she soothed. "There's only you and me," she added after pivoting in a circle to check around the room.

There was a lightbulb on the opposite wall, but it obviously wasn't lit. Beneath it, rather than a switch, was a keypad.

"There's a light," she told him, "but I think we need a code to turn it on."

"There was one on the tablet," he answered, "324B21. That could be it."

"Lucky for us you have your super power." She smiled, referring to his incredible memory for patterns.

She saw him smile back at her. "Where's the key pad?" He inquired.

"On the other side of the room," she replied and saw him frown. Poor Fitz, this really wasn't his favourite room.

Sifting through the contents of their bag again, she retrieved the rope. "Hold onto this," she said, placing it in his hands, "I'll have the other end."

"I'm not scared," he told her swiftly.

"I know," she insured him, "but I'd rather you know where I am."

"Yeah, me too. Good plan Simmons." He agreed.

She gave his arm another squeeze before standing and heading over to the key pad. She punched in the code and the light flickered on. Her hands flew up to her face to pull off the goggles before sudden light hurt her eyes. As she did so, there was a low grumble and a part of the wall in front of her lowered to reveal a short, narrow hallway.

"That was interesting" Fitz commented.

Simmons turned to see him peering curiously at the hole in the wall, the rope held in both hands.

"It was," she concurred brightly, skipping back to him and helping him up. They had really put some work into making this maze. She wondered if they ever used it for anything else.

Fitz leaned on Simmons as they hopped into the hallway. The wall behind them closed and they were once again left in darkness. Did that really need to keep happening?

This time Simmons placed the goggles onto his head.

"You should have a turn too," she objected when he tried to give them back. "They're interesting to look through."

"Thanks," he said, adjusting them over his eyes. Strategy aside, how many opportunities did he get to use night vision goggles? "It feels a little like being in a spy novel," he told her.

"It does doesn't it?" she chirped. "Which way secret agent Fitz?"

"Straight ahead secret agent Simmons," he replied laughing.

They were almost secret agents, he thought excitedly. When they graduated they would be Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., really agent Fitz and agent Simmons.

They stopped when Fitz found the next lightbulb and tapped in the code again. This time, however, instead of lighting up the room and opening a wall, it simply shone a bright beam onto the wall across from it. Fitz removed the goggles and examined at the place where the light touched the wall. It was round and left a halo around it like a flashlight would and cast deep shadows on either end of the hall.

"What are we suppose to do with that?" he wondered, waving his hand over the beam a few times.

"Let's look around and see what else is in here," she suggested moving down the hall.

Fitz hopped along he wall the other way, remembering that he saw a little box on the way to the key pad. He opened the lid of and found a stack of small round mirros.

"There's a solar pannel over here," Simmons called.

"I found some mirrors in this box," he called back.

"Of course!" They exclaimed excitedly.

"We're suppose to use the mirrors-" Simmons began.

"To shine the light onto the pannel," Fitz finished.

"Bring that box over," Simmons demanded, but he was already holding it and limping towards her. She saw him struggling and hurried over to help.

"Sorry, I forgot about your ankle," she apologized.

"That's ok," he answered, he had too.

In addition to the mirrors, there were several blobs of a blue, clay-like substance which they guessed, correctly, was to stick the mirrors to the wall.

Fitz sat against the wall with the light bulb and put out suggestions as Simmons arranged the mirrors to lead the beam to the pannel.

When the light reached the solar pannel, there was another low grumble and the wall opened at the end of the hall, revealing the finish line.

"Fitz," she breathed beaming at him.

"We did it!" he cried beaming back.

As he struggled to stand she ran over and wrapped him a tight hug, bouncing up and down a bit so that he had to hold onto her to keep his balance. He laughed and bounced with her on his good leg before she pulled away, eyes sparkling.

Jack and Sam had won, he knew they had, but just at that moment he really didn't care. He and Simmons had just accomplished something working together and they'd had a lot of fun doing it. Maybe it wasn't all such a great time, the pool had been terrifying, but they had grown as a team and, best of all, they had been able to play it along side each other.

"Let's go finish this," he said and she nodded before ducking under his arm to hold him up as they walked out the hole in the wall and out of the maze.

* * *

Fun Background

One more chapter left! It's almost ready! Thanks for getting this far and I hope you had fun :)

Thanks to everyone who read, liked or reviewed my other stories. You guys are super spies!

The title of the chapter is a reference to the title of episode 1x19 The Only Light in the Darkness.

The Fringe reference is that I gave Fitz one of Olivia's super powers. She can remember every pattern of numbers she sees like town populations, serial numbers, etc... It's pretty cool and Fitz seems to be good with numbers so it fits...haha get it? Like Fitz =fits.

There is an Orphan black reference in this story. 324B21 is the tag number embedded in the DNA of clone Cosima Niehaus. (The base pairs are used as binary) Cosima is known affectionately as petit chiot (little puppy) by Delphine and the geek monkey by Sarah. I thought it would be appropriate because Fitz loves monkeys and Jack is a puppy.

Also yes, they lost. I did really want them to win but the story kinda went in a direction where that seemed unrealistic. Fitz had to have consequences for jumping into the pit so I sprained his ankle (wow I'm mean, sorry FItz!) and then he was super slow in the maze and they didn't have the tablet and Jack and Sam are no dummies. Besides winning isn't everything.


	7. New Friends

"Simmons do I really have to wear this?" Fitz asked as she tied the blue bowtie with white spots around his neck. It was a match to hers which was white with blue spots.

"You _get_ to wear my bowtie," she informed him grinning, "because it's our team uniform. FitzSimmons rules!" she punched the air.

"Fine," he agreed, looking down at it. It was a bit clownish but it wasn't so bad and it made her happy so decided to let it go. "Next time I get to pick the uniform though," he decided.

"Of course," she replied, pulling the edges of it to make sure it was tied tight enough and stepping back to look at her work. "I think you look really good with the bowtie though."

"Really?" he chirped, surprised at the compliment.

"Really," she answered, eyes shining with amusement, and he grinned back at her.

There was a knock at the door and he examined himself in the mirror as she went to answer it.

Maybe it was a good look on him. Simmons didn't lie, she couldn't really, it made her all flustered and awkward and nothing that came out of her mouth sounded remotely like the truth.

"Hi Fitz," Jack greeted cheerfully, bouncing into the room with Sam and Simmons close behind. "Nice bowtie- oh hey it matches Simmons'! That's awesome! We should do that Sam! We'd look so cool."

"Jack what did we agree on about coffee after eight o'clock?" Sam teased.

Jack stuck out his tongue at Sam who laughed loudly.

Fitz exchanged a glance with Simmons and they giggled at their new friends.

"Would you like to join us going down to the boiler room," Simmons offered brightly walking over to stand next to Fitz.

Jack and Sam looked grimly at each other before facing Fitz and Simmons.

"I don't think the Science and Technology students want me in there," Sam explained and Fitz remembered that he was from Operations.

"And I don't want to go down there anyway," Jack said hotly, crossing his arms. "If Sam isn't welcome then neither am I."

Fitz thought that was ridiculous. School rivalries were one thing but separating friends was just plain wrong.

"Well we don't want to go either then," he announced, receiving an approving look from Simmons before she nodded in solidarity.

The pair beamed at them.

"Well then, if you aren't doing anything else," Sam began.

"Then we have something we think you'll like." Jack finished wiggling his eyebrows mischievously.

Fitz and Simmons glanced at each other one more time before smiling and turning to Sam and Jack.

"We're in," the agreed.

Simmons sat beside Fitz on a small grassy hill. The sky was still cloudless and the stars were clearly visible across the dark field. The moon was almost full and cast a silvery light on the figures of Jack and Sam who were setting up several meters away. A cool breeze ruffled her hair and she was glad for her sweater.

Fitz pressed his shoulder against hers and she rested her head on it contently watching the silhouettes of her friends scurrying around in front of them through half closed eyes. It had been a long, but exciting day and she was feeling relaxed and sleepy.

"They know what they're doing right?" she yawned.

"It's only fireworks Jemma," Fitz replied in a soft voice. "How hard can it be?"

"Wake me up before it starts," she murmured, feeling her eyes droop shut, "I don't want ...to ...miss it." she yawned again.

"OK," he whispered and she smiled as she felt him kiss the top of her head.

She drifted to sleep but was awoken a minute later by the sounds of Jack and Sam yelling.

"Don't do that Jack," Sam was shouting.

"It's fine," Jack insisted calmly.

"Jack no wait it's not-"

"Ahhh, Sam let's go!" screamed Jack and Simmons and Fitz leapt to their feet, Simmons holding up Fitz, as they saw the two of them scuttling in their direction.

A firework skidded along the ground, leaving a bright stream of red sparks behind it as it whizzed past. They yelped and grabbed each other as it flew by.

"It wasn't stuck in," Sam exclaimed and Jack grinned back guiltily.

"Sorry!" he squeaked.

"Hey don't apologize to me," Sam laughed holding up his hands, "I signed up for this."

Simmons wondered, amused, if he was referring to the fireworks or their friendship.

"Sorry guys," he said, facing them, "I didn't mean to scare the pants off you."

"We're fine," Fitz assured him, still leaning on Simmons for support but relaxing his shoulders.

"No harm done," she agreed cheerily, "and anyway, at least now I'm awake."

Jack beamed at them. "You wouldn't want to sleep through the show."

"C'mon genius," Sam teased and Jack skipped behind him back to the row of fireworks.

"I wish we could do this again next year," Simmons told Fitz as they settled back down onto the grass.

"We'll have other challenges," Fitz answered, knowing she was talking about the competition. "There's going to be a whole new set of things for us to face now," his eyes smiled at her, "and as long as we're together I know we can do it."

Simmons felt a warm glow spread through her. "Best team ever."

* * *

**Fun Background**

Congratulations, you've reached the end! Have a cookie and a mini cupcake! Yay! I hope you had fun.

Thank you so much to everyone who liked, read or reviewed my other stories. Best Fanfiction team ever!

The Fringe reference in the chapter is Simmons saying "Wake me up before... I don't want to miss it." The last thing the Peter from our universe says is something along the lines of "Wake me up before dinner, I don't want to miss it." in 1x17, Peter. It is a little grim and a little vague but it fit so well I figured why not? And plus it is the last chapter of the story.

That firework thing may or may not be based on a true story .. (It wasn't me but I was there... if it happened).

The bowtie is a bit of a reference to the 11th doctor (bowties are cool). They are also the same pair of bowties Fitz mentions in Birthday Cake.


End file.
